My life as Sparkfur
by Macygracie
Summary: One cold chrismas eve, Macy makes a wish: to escape the orphanage. Her wish is granted, but in a rather unusual way. Read on to find out how Macy copes with the life of a warrior.
1. Allegiances

_Alegiances_

 ** _thunderclan_**

 **Leader:**

Bramblestar

 **Deputy:**

Squirrelflight

 **Medicine cat:**

Jayfeather

Leafpool

 **Warriors:**

Brackenfur

Cloudtail

Brightheart

Millie

Thornclaw

Spiderleg

Birchfall

Whitewing

Berrynose

Mousewhisker

Cinderheart

Ivypool

Lionblaze

Dovewing

Rosepetal

Poppyfrost

Snowbush

Briarlight

Blossomfall

Bumblestripe

Ambermoon

Dewnose

Hollytuft

Fernsong

Sorrelstripe

Stormcloud

Cherryfall

Apprentice: Sparkpaw

Molewhisker

Apprentice: Alderpaw

 **Apprentices:**

Alderpaw

Sparkpaw

 **Queens:**

Lilyheart

Daisy

 **Elders:**

Purdy

Sandstorm

Graystripe

 **Kits:**

Larkkit

Leafkit

Honeykit

 ** _Shadowclan_**

 **Leader:**

Rowanstar

 **Deputy:**

Crowfrost

 **Medicine cat:**

Littlecloud

Apprentice: puddlepaw

 **Warriors:**

Tawnypelt

Apprentice: needlepaw

Tigerheart

Apprentice: sleekpaw

Stonetooth

Apprentice: juniperpaw

Spikefur

Apprentice: yarrowpaw

Wasptail

Apprentice: strikepaw

Dawnpelt

Apprentice: beepaw

 **Apprentices:**

Puddlepaw

Needlepaw

Sleekpaw

Juniperpaw

Yarrowpaw

Strikepaw

Beepaw

 **Queens:**

Grassheart

Pinenose

 **Elders:**

Oakfur

Kinkfur

 **Kits:**

Birchkit

Lionkit

Slatekit

 ** _Windclan_**

 **Leader:**

Onestar

 **Deputy:**

Harespring

 **Medicine cat:**

Kestrelflight

 **Warriors:**

Slightfoot

Sedgewhisker

Crowfeather

Nightcloud

Gorsetail

Leaftail

Oatclaw

Emberfoot

Heathertail

Breezepelt

Larkwing

 **Apprentices:**

 _None_

 **Queens:**

ferntail

Elders:

Whitetail

 **Kits:**

Smokekit

Brindlekit

 ** _Riverclan_**

 **Leader:**

Mistystar

 **Deputy:**

Reedwhisker

 **Medicine cat:**

Mothwing

Willowshine

 **Warriors:**

Lizardtail

Apprentice: foxpaw

Havenpelt

Curlfeather

Podlight

Mintfur

Mallownose

Duskfur

Apprentice: shadepaw

Mosspelt

Perchwing

Heronwing

Petalfur

Shimmerpelt

Minnowtail

 **Apprentices:**

Foxpaw

Shadepaw

 **Queens:**

Lakeheart

Icewing

 **Elders:**

None

 **Kits:**

Nightkit

Shimmerkit

 ** _Animals outside the clans_**

Macy, human


	2. Prologue

The midwinter night was cold, colder than any night before. The freezing wind howled like a wolf, and my window was blown open by its mighty force. I looked at the calendar, and the town clock tower. 11.55, on the 24th of december. Christmas eve.

I am Macy. My father died before I was born, and my mother died in childbirth. I have no last name, and I have always lived at the orphanage. I share a room with 4 other girls, even though the room is small. Size doesn't matter here at the orphanage. What matters is that we are fed, and cared for.

The other girls in my room are like sisters to me. Kenzie Little sleeps on the bunk below me. She is nice enough, and good at comforting people, but is a little too quiet.

Her best friend is Alexia jones, who is outgoing and fiesty, the opposite to Kenzie's quiet nature. She is always getting in trouble for something, even if it's just Brylie playing a trick on her

Brylie Josephs is always laughing. She loves nearly everything, but her life was very sad. Unlike the rest of us, who have been here since we were babies, she knew her parents, and loved them. She only came here last year. We helped her along, and now she has recovered from the loss of her parents

Rosie hermana, who was brought in on the same day as me, is my best friend. She was born in the same hospital, but she isn't my sister. Dorothy wouldn't lie to us.

Dorothy is the matron. Along with her helpers Martha, Betty, Daisy and Mabel, she runs the orphanage. She is very kind, and tries very hard, but the orphanage is just too small for the 73 girls that live here.

When we get the yearly funding for toys and books, just before Christmas, Dorothy always makes sure that we all get something special. She comes round and asks us what we want, and we usually get it.

The reason the funding is so large is because the people who live at Oscuro manor are grateful to us for rescuing his only son when he was a little baby. Oscar, as he was called, and escaped from his pram when his nanny was chatting with another nanny. He nearly got hit by a car, but Dorothy grabbed him before he could be harmed.

When Dorothy comes out to ask what I want, I always ask for the same thing. All the warriors books that have come out since the last funding. I like reading the warriors books because they help me escape from the hustle and bustle of the orphanage.

I like Alderpaw best. I asked if I could use Dorothys computer to look it up, and I found the preview of the apprentices quest online. He seems like such a good cat. I also like the way that jayfeather and yellowfang are so hilariously grumpy, although it would be frustrating in real life.

As I lay on my bed, I looked at the small bookshelf in the room. On it lay almost every warriors book ever written, but there was only so much warriors you could read until you got bored.

Bong... bong... The clock started to strike twelve. It sounded a bit like someone was being hit with a saucepan numerous times. Bong... bong... I wish I could really escape into the warriors books. Bong... Bong... The wind stopped for a moment, as if it was considering my thought. Bong... Bong... It started again with a small puff, and then went back to howling at the night. Bong... Bong... Almost as if it were saying yes. Bong... Bong... I went down and changed the date to the 25th of december. I went back up to the bed and sighed. _If only I could really escape..._


	3. Chapter 1: Spark

I wake up, but can't be bothered to open my eyes. I stretch my legs and curl up again. Christmas day. A new batch of warriors books. The happiest day of the year. I try to curl up, but it doesn't work.

Ive probably tangled myself up in my blanket I think, and start feeling for my blankets. I feel fur, which is strange, but Brylie probably just lent me her fluffy blanket. I feel the cold more than the other girls. I often shiver in my sleep.

I finally open my eyes, but I am not in my bed at the orphanage. I am in a cold forest, in the snow. I see trees and bushes all around me, but they are bigger than they should be. I look down at myself and scream. I am a cat.

"That was stupid" I mutter, and start walking along the snow. I climb up a tree, and examine myself. I am a ginger and white cat, and I look a bit like brightheart, but younger, and with two eyes. I look in a puddle. My eyes are ice blue, an unusual mutation, but I guess its also unusual to wake up on Christmas morning as a cat.

I have a little speck of ginger on my left shoulder. A little bit like a spark. I climb to the top of the tree, surprised at how easily I adapted to 4 legs. I see a lake below me. I see a moor to my left, and a pine forest to my right. I am currently in a motley forest of oak, birch, and some other trees I can't name. Across the lake is a marsh, with a few streams. I realise where I am with a jolt. I am in the warriors books.

I decide to find a name for myself. One thing I definitely don't want to do is call myself Macy. That would suggest that I am a kittypet. I am very close to the pine forest, so I might be in shadowclan or thunderclan territory. The books are never very clear about the borders.

I search my body for something that might suggest a name. I look a bit like brightheart, but I think that might be a little suspicious. What about my eyes? Ice? No, that sounds a bit... Cruel. Like barleys brother in enter the clans. What about the fleck of ginger on my shoulder? It looks a bit like a spark leaping from the fire that are my other ginger patches. That will be my name. Spark. It would be suspicious to have a warrior name, because I don't know my age, and if any cat found me they would suspect I was from another clan.

I hear leaves crunching. It is too much for a rabbit, or a cat, but it is continuous, suggesting a border patrol. The sound is coming from thunderclan territory. There are 4 cats in the patrol. One smallish dark ginger tom, one large brown and cream tom, one smallish bright ginger she-cat, a bit like firestar, and one fluffy ginger she-cat.

"I can smell an intruder" the young she-cat hisses.

"I can see her shadow" the young tom laughs. "You might as well come down now" he calls.

"Fox dung" I mutter, and climb down the tree. Now that I'm down, I can smell the scent markers. I am on thunderclan territory.

"Whats your name" the large tom asks me. I am glad I worked it out earlier.

"Spark" I say.

"Spark. Wheres your mother?" The large tom asks. _Fox dung!_ I think. I must be a kit.

"Gone" I say. I don't think I would be able to make a reliable cover story. If I said she died in the territory, there was bound to be a patrol to search for her body.

"Ok then, One of us will take you back to camp" the large she cat says. _Thank god..._ I think. Or should I be saying thank starclan? Since I'm a kit, thunderclan will automatically take me in!

"Alderpaw!" The male cat says. "Lets go back to camp. Sparkpaw and cherryfall, you can mark the border" he says.

I follow alderpaw and the other cat. I think he is molewhisker, because he is alderpaws mentor, and matches the description on the warriors wiki. We pad forward, and stop suddenly.

"Follow me carefully" Molewhisker says, and I do. I only step where he steps, which is quite hard, as I can't see my back legs. We finally get to a tunnel of brambles. We walk through, and I gasp.

"Welcome to the thunderclan camp" alderpaw says.


	4. Chapter 2: welcome to thunderclan

I look down. I see a quarry, like the one that dorothy took us to last year. It is like a huge hole, with a path big enough for a truck winding down to the bottom. There are many cats down at the bottom.

A cat comes up to greet us. She is ginger and white, with one blue eye. Brightheart. In the books, I know it just treats brightheart like a normal cat, but the side of the face that has no eye is more grotesque than any of the books or pictures suggest. But I know what shes been through, and I don't flinch.

"Who is this kit?" brightheart asks. Her voice is kind, guessing that I have lost my mother, as she is not with me. I smile at her.

"She was lost in our territory. Her name is spark, and she doesn't have a mother" molewhisker said. I'm glad he didn't say something that might suggest my mother was alive. They might cast me out!

I thought about the allegiances for the apprentices quest. Leader is bramblestar. Deputy is squirrelflight. Medicine cat is jayfeather. They are the cats they're most likely to take me to.

"Well, get spark to jayfeather, bramblestar is hunting with squirrelflight. He left shortly after you did. He should be back soon" brightheart says. I am glad. It should give me a chance to learn how to clean my fur. I look awful.

I follow alderpaw to jayfeathers den, and he shows me a nest. I sit down. Moss is oddly soft. There is a rustling towards the back of the den and jayfeather appears. His eyes appear to be clouded, muffled, but unlike a lot of the pictures show, he still has pupils.

"Well, are you hurt?" Jayfeather says.

"I... I... I don't think so" I say. I'm slightly scared of jayfeather.

"Well then, clean yourself up, and try to look presentable" jayfeather grumbles.

I lick my fur. It feels like I'm brushing it, but it doesn't pull like my hairbrush. Soon my fur is clean and fluffy. Now my fur is clean, my patches are more golden than ginger, a light orange colour, rather than the dark colour it looked like in the tree.

Brightheart walks in. "Bramblestar is back" she says simply. "Follow me".

I obey, and she takes me to a place where an unsecure rock has crumbled down to the bottom of the quarry. One small ledge remains, with a small cave facing the rock. The highledge.

Brightheart leads me in. A huge tabby tom sits in one of two nests, and a ginger she-cat sits in the other. Bramblestar and squirrelflight.

"Who is this kit" bramblestar asks, looking at brightheart.

"Molewhiskers patrol found her near the shadowclan border. Her name is spark" brightheart explains.

"Where is her mother? She will probably be looking for her" bramblestar says.

"She doesn't have one" brightheart says, and looks at me with a sad eye.

"Where did your mother go" bramblestar asked. I was stuck. If I said my mother just died, they might go looking for her body, and If they couldn't find it, they would be suspicious. Or maybe if they were too scared to look...

"A twoleg threw a stone at her, and she fell down and never got up" I said. No cat would want to go near a twoleg nest.

"Ok then. Do you want to join thunderclan, or wait until you can hunt for yourself and go back to the loner life?" Bramblestar asked. This was my chance!

"I will join thunderclan" I said. My heart was beating fast.

"Brightheart, can you go and show Spark to the nursery? Shes about the same age as lilyhearts kits, lilyheart can look after her" bramblestar says. I am glad. I am not ready to become an apprentice yet!

I follow brightheart to the nursery. I see two she-cats, one cream coloured one, and one dark tabby with white patches.

The dark tabby must be lilyheart, and the other one must be daisy.

"Hello brightheart" lilyheart purred. Brightheart is lilyhearts foster mum. "Who's this?".

"This is spark. She was found in the forest by molewhiskers patrol. Bramblestar has let her join thunderclan" brightheart explains. My heart leaps when she says join thunderclan.

"Right. She does look the same age as my kits" lilyheart says, looking at me. "I'll go find them" she says, and pads outside.

I hear her calling her kits, and I sit down. I don't remember their names, but I look forward to meeting them. Lilyheart herds three kits into the den. One tom, and two she-cats.

One of the she-kits looked a lot like me, but my blotches were more ginger than hers. The tom is black, and the other she-kit is tortoiseshell.

"This one is larkkit" lilyheart says, indicating the tom with her tail.

"Hi" larkkit says. He looks a little shy.

"This one is honeykit" lilyheart says, indicating the she-kit that looks like me.

"Hello!" Honeykit said

"And this one is leafkit" lilyheart finished, indicating the tortoiseshell one.

"Hello spark" she said.

"Now why don't you show spark around the camp?" Lilyheart suggested. "It might just keep you out of trouble...


	5. Chapter 3: The warrior code

I walked out, and followed the kits. They led me to the camp entrance, but we were stopped by brightheart. She was very busy today.

"Where do you think you're going" brightheart asks. From the look in her eye, these kits had tried to escape before.

"Showing Spark the entrance tunnel" leafkit says innocently. Which she was.

"She's already seen that silly! How did you think she got in? Do you think molewhisker pushed her over the edge?" Brightheart laughs. "Show her somewhere she hasn't seen seen yet"

Leafkit looked a little downcast, and I tried to cheer her up.

"Don't worry Leafkit!" I say. "Why don't you show me the apprentices den?"

"How do you know about the apprentices den" larkkit asks, looking puzzled. _Wow, that was stupid! Now he's suspicious..._

"Errr... Bramblestar told me" I say, hoping this won't blow my cover.

"Ok then!" Honeykit says. She walks to a small cave under a rock, and I follow her in. I see two nests, and they smell... Strange. It feels like I recognise the smells. They smell a bit like sparkpaw and alderpaw... Thats it! Thats what they smell like! I need to get used to this cat nose...

"This is the apprentices den!" honeykit says enthusiastically. I can understand. I know that kits in the books always want to become apprentices. But I just need to get used to being a cat!

We walk out of the den, and I see that cherryfall and sparkpaw are back. They talk to brightheart, and sparkpaw walks down to where we're sitting.

"Hello spark" she says. "Are the kits showing you round?"

"Yes" I say. It feels weird. Its almost like talking to myself. We have almost the same name. It will be confusing if we're both apprentices at the same time.

"Come on spark!" Larkkit urges. I run after him. He's walking towards a big trunk of a beech tree. The one that killed longtail and paralysed briarlight I realise.

We walk through some branches and I see lots of nests. I count 27. Thats a lot of warriors. There are a few cats in there. I can recognise spiderleg, his legs are long, and his pelt is black. There is a white tom in there, but I can't tell if its snowbush or cloudtail. And there is another cat there, cherryfall, who I met before.

The white cat glares up at me. Amber eyes. Snowbush.

"We'd better get going" leafkit says. We want to make it all around the camp before nightfall!"

I looked at the sky. It was already getting dark. Leafkit was bounding towards another portion of the tree, reinforced with honeysuckle. The elders den I think, and bound to catch up with them.

"This is the elders den" honeykit purrs. She bounds inside. I pad in after her and see three cats inside. One tabby, one grey, and one pale ginger. Purdy, graystripe and sandstorm.

"Hello young 'uns" purdy purrs. "Who's this strange kit with you?".

"Spark" leafkit says.

"Molewhiskers patrol found her near the shadowclan border" larkkit adds.

"And she's joining thunderclan" honeykit says, looking at purdy.

"Bramblestars just as bad as firestar" graystripe purrs. "Took in strays nearly every day he did"

"He was my mate, and graystripes best friend" sandstorm purred. The elders are doing a lot of purring.

"You'd better get back to the nursury, its getting dark, and lilyheart will be wondering where you are" Graystripe purred.

"Ok graystripe" larkkit sighed. We headed back to the nursury, and lilyheart's nest has been expanded. The moss has been changed, and it's tempting to go and just jump on it, but I refrain for fear of embarrassing myself.

Lilyheart gets into the bed, and gestures for me to hop in with her. I do. The other kits hop on top of me, and It gets very warm.

"Do you want me to tell you a story?" Lilyheart asks. I know all the stories, so I'm not too enthusiastic, but you never know. Maybe theres a story the books don't tell.

"Yes! Yes!" The other kits say, and get comfortable.

Lilyheart tells the story of how the warrior code was made. It is a different story to the one in code of the clans, because many of the stories have long since been forgotten.

She tells a story of bloody battles, and of many lives lost. She says it was at fourtrees, the old gathering place in the forest. I know that.

She tells of the great Windstar, thunderstar, Riverstar, and shadowstar who founded the clans, and made the warrior code.

She tells of the 16 rules that make warriors who they are. They keep their heart pure, and their mind content, and gives them faith in their warrior ancestors, starclan.

"But the rule that is broken most" lilyheart says, "is the rule that no cat can be apprenticed before the age of six moons"

"Thats so unfair" larkkit complains. "We're old enough!"

"No you're not" lilyheart scolds. "You're only five moons old. Your ceremony will come soon enough"

"Thats a whole moon!" Honeykit moans.

"I can't wait until I'm an apprentice" leafkit sighs. _Nor can I_ I think. _Nor can I..._


	6. Chapter 4: Apprentice

_I have been here with thunderclan for nearly a month now. The other kits are like my siblings now, and I play with them every day. We have tried to escape numerous times, but some cat always catches up with us. We are bigger now, and I have learnt lots of stories I never knew before. Mainly about lionclan, tigerclan, and leopardclan, the great big cats that lived in the forest before twolegs or us small cats came. They don't tell us much about those ancient clans in the books. Only 3 stories. Time has passed slowly, but fast. Each day the same things happen. I think about being an apprentice, and I think, not long now, not long now..._

I wake up, and I pull myself out of the nest. As usual, I am the last cat to get up. I hear the other kits playing outside, with the latest arrivals, Dawnkit and duskkit. They're berrynose and poppyfrosts new kits, and are just learning how to play and be safe outside.

I trot outside, and I see Sparkpaw showing everyone the hunting crouch. The small shapes of duskkit and dawnkit are trying very hard, but they need to learn something easier first. The rest are doing fine.

Duskkit is a tom, a tortoiseshell like his mother, but dawnkit is a cream she-kit. I try and think about what their warrior names might be, like I used to with a new litter of kits in the books. Maybe dawnflower and dusktalon.

I walk out, and go to the fresh-kill pile. I choose a huge fat rabbit that the dawn patrol caught, and bring it back to the others. We all have a bite.

"Sparkpaw!" Cherryfall calls, waiting near the bramble tunnel. She also has Alderpaw and molewhisker beside her. Alderpaw is looking overjoyed. It's easy to guess that they have their warrior assessment today.

They walk out of the hollow, and I can't see them any more. I hope they succeed, but then thunderclan will have no more apprentices until we're apprentices. Hopefully that won't be too long.

We play for a few hours, and duskkit and dawnkit get tired, so they go back to bed. We try to climb to the top of the dens, but we accidentally fall through the roof of the elders den. Thats the one time I've seen graystripe grumpy. We all fell on top of him.

I am just about to say sorry, when I hear thundering footsteps at the bramble tunnel. I turn to face graystripe and...

"Just go. I remember when I was a kit. Always wanting to know whats going on" graystripe sighed.

I leapt out, and saw sparkpaw and Alderpaw beaming their heads off. From what I gather, they passed. I walk over to them, and wonder when the ceremony is. As if she can read my mind, sparkpaw answers.

"We're having our warrior ceremony at sunhigh" she squeals, and jumps around the camp. Shes a bit overexcited.

I look at the sun. Its almost sunhigh. The ceremony will be in half an hour or so. I'm excited. I've never seen a real warrior ceremony before!

It seems like time goes slower, I'm so excited. But half an hour can only be so long, and soon I can hear bramblestar calling for the meeting.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highledge for a clan meeting" he calls, and sparkpaw and alderpaw bound to the highledge. I sit next to fernsong, and larkkit sits next to me. When all the cats are gathered, bramblestar starts the warrior ceremony.

"I Bramblestar, leader of thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn" bramblestar says. "Sparkpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?" Bramblestar asks.

"I do" sparkpaw says.

"Then by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. Sparkpaw, from this moment you will be known as sparkfire. Starclan honours your spirit and intellegence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of thunderclan" bramblestar says. Sparkfire touches bramblestars nose, and now he continues with alderpaws ceremony.

"Alderpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?" Bramblestar asks.

"I do" Alderpaw says.

"Then by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. Alderpaw, from this moment you will be known as Alderblaze. Starclan honours your loyalty and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of thunderclan" bramblestar finishes. I feel proud of alderblaze, but I don't know why.

"Sparkfire! Alderblaze! Sparkfire! Alderblaze!" The clan calls, greeting the new warriors.

"There are also a few kits who are ready to become apprentices" bramblestar says. I am so excited! I am going to become an apprentice!

"Leafkit, from this day on, until you recieve your warrior name, you will be known as leafpaw. Your mentor will be snowbush. I hope he will pass down all he knows to you. Snowbush" bramblestar calls. Snowbush steps forward.

"Snowbush, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You received excellent training from Ivypool, and you have shown yourself to be loyal and brave. You will be leafpaw's mentor, and I expect that you will pass down all you know to leafpaw" bramblestar says. Leafpaw then touches noses with snowbush.

Bramblestar goes on to name honeypaws mentor ambermoon, and larkpaws mentor dewnose. Now its my turn!

"Spark, from this day, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as sparkpaw" bramblestar begins. "Your mentor will be brightheart" he says. I look at her and smile. I know that her last apprentice was Jayfeather, who didn't last a moon.

"Brightheart, you have been ready for an apprentice for many moons. You had received excellent training from whitestorm, and you have shown determination and skill. I expect you to pass on all you know to sparkpaw" bramblestar finishes. I touch brighthearts nose.

"Leafpaw! Honeypaw! Larkpaw! Sparkpaw! Leafpaw! Honeypaw! Larkpaw! Sparkpaw!" The clan calls. I feel proud of myself, and happier than I have ever been before.

"Well sparkpaw?" Brightheart asks. "Don't you want to see the forest...


	7. Chapter 5: Hunting

I leap out of the bramble tunnel after brightheart. I can't believe it was a moon ago that I was out there in the forest, lost and alone. I trot out, and follow brightheart into the forest. We walk towards the lake, and she shows me the same ridge she showed jayfeather in the sight. She must be glad that this apprentice can see.

We go to a big oak tree, and we stop. There is some moss at the base, so I sit down. I look at the tree. Judging by the direction we were walking, this must be the ancient oak. I walk back to where brightheart is sitting in silence. I see a mouse.

"Try and catch it" Brightheart whispers. I drop into the hunting crouch that Sparkfire showed me this morning. It seems like such a long time ago now.

I see the mouse's little nose, and I pounce and bite... On some leaves.

"Well, first tip, don't jump so hard, mice feel the vibrations in the ground, and will run away. Don't slam down on the ground" Brightheart explains.

I keep hunting, and about an hour later, I am rewarded with a mouse. Soon enough, I have more mice, and brightheart has some too. We bury them, and head to the moor. I see a windclan patrol, but it is hunting, and doesn't bother us.

I catch a strong whiff of windclan. Yuck! I think. It smells gross. I realise that its the scent marker. I take a big step back. I don't want to cause a border skirmish with windclan on my first day.

"This is the smell of windclan" brightheart clarifies. "If you smell this on our territory, tell a senior warrior immediately" she says. If I smelled that smell on our territory, I think I would notice it.

"Shhhh!" Brightheart hisses. I see a rabbit, and it hops across the border marker. "Go over to that clump of ferns. I will flush the rabbit over to you" she whispers, and creeps around behind the rabbit. I sneak over to the clump of ferns, and I sit down.

I hear brightheart starting to chase the rabbit, and I see it coming fast. I leap... And I bite rabbit. I kill it swiftly.

"Good job sparkpaw!" I hear brightheart say. I feel a flash of pride. We walk back over to where we buried our mice, pick them up, and start walking back to camp.

When we get back to the bramble tunnel, I see Lilyheart guarding the camp. She got back to warrior duties fast! I look down, and see the camp.

Cinderheart is walking into the nursury. Good on her! More kits. She has been looking plump lately...

We take our kills down to the fresh kill pile, and I take the rabbit to the elders den. I sit down, and take that first mouse I caught. I take a bite. It tastes good, but not as good as cheesecake. I have a weak spot for cheesecake...

Alderblaze sits down beside me with another mouse. "How was your first day as an apprentice?" He asks, and starts eating his mouse.

"Great!" I say. "I caught a rabbit!"

"Cool. All I did on my first day was collect moss for the elders. Ugh!" He says, and pretends to spit. I laugh.

"Well, It looks like you covered hunting pretty well, but you do need to learn how to fight" alderblaze says. I agree. I can't wait to learn how to fight.

"Yeah" I say. "I'm looking forward to that"

"Maybe brightheart could teach you tomorro...

He never finishes his sentence. A patrol bursts through the bramble tunnel. It consists of sparkfire, molewhisker, dewnose and larkpaw

"BADGERS!" Dewnose yells. Alderblaze scratches the ground.

"Well, you wanted to learn how to fight" Alderblaze says. "And you've got one coming...


	8. Chapter 6: Badgers!

I leap up, and run to the nursery. I know that no cat in there is in any condition to fight. Especially the kits.

"Two badgers are chasing spiderleg" sparkfire gasps. I run out of the bramble tunnel, and see the badgers lumbering towards camp. What happened to spiderleg? I see blood on their muzzles. _No_ I think. _Not spiderleg..._

We can't let the badgers into the camp. We can't. We will be overpowered! They have to stay out...

I look at the others. Brackenfur, cloudtail, and brightheart are fighting a female badger.

Snowbush, blossomfall and dewnose are fighting a male. I see eyes through the bushes.

Cubs I realise.

I look in one of the bushes. The cubs are big, as big as cats. And stronger.

The cubs realise that they are stronger than us, and leap out of the bush. No! We don't need more badgers to fight! One leaps on hollytuft, another one attacks Alderblaze, and the other starts fighting Millie.

I hide up a tree. Badgers can't climb. I know its cowardly, but I don't know how to fight. I see a badger crushing cloudtail... _No! It can't be true!_ The badger walks away, and cloudtail doesn't get up.

I force myself to pull my eyes from the scene, and I see sorrelstripe being flung against a tree. She crumples to the ground. I see cats lying still everywhere. The badgers can't be driven away.

I see cinderheart, poppyfrost and the kits doing the standard safety manoeuvre. Climbing the walls of the camp. But it is not safe. Up is where the badgers are. Down is the place that is being kept safe by over 30 cats. Probably. If the many cats who lie on the ground are dead already, then maybe the number might be below 30. But that doesn't matter now. What matters now is staying alive.

I watch from above. The badgers can't be driven away, but maybe they can be killed. I look around. The badgers from twilight were driven away with the help of windclan. Windclan isn't going to be warned by midnight now. There was sharptooth, killed by a shard of rock sent down by feathertail. There are no sharp rocks here, and branches are nowhere near strong enough to kill a badger. There was bluestar who jumped into the gorge...

I know exactly what to do. I leap over to the edge of the hollow. I search around, and see a ledge just below the edge. I step onto it. I take a deep breath. I know what I have to do...

"Over here badgers!" I shout. The badgers lumber towards me, all 5 of them. Boy, they are fast! They eventually all lumber over the edge to their deaths.

But the adult female heard the dying cries of her companions, and stopped for a moment. She has seen the drop that was supposed to send her to her death. She lumbers over to where I am, and lunges her claws at my face. I duck, but too late. I lose my balance. I grab something to try and prevent my fall, but it just goes down with me.

I feel fur. I have probably just pulled down one of my clanmates. The fur is black and white. Or black and light grey. Or white and dark grey, I can't tell, all I know is that this is the end...


	9. Chapter 7: casualties

Next thing I know, I'm lying in the medicine cats den. I open my eyes to see jayfeather treating birchfall for his wounds. They seem to have been healing for a few days, so I must have been out for a while. The birds are twittering outside, a strange new tune that I don't fancy. Cats are talking quietly outside, so I can't hear them. What I do hear is jayfeather padding over to me. I hear him talking to me, but I can't understand what he is saying. Its like my ears were shattered in the fall. But I can still hear, even if I can't hear properly. I see jayfeathers mouth moving, and I can hear him, but I just can't understand him! I try to mouth read, and I translate: sparkpaw! Can you hear me? Sparkpaw!

Well, I can't. He tries again. Strangely enough, it sounds a little bit like shpargkbaw! Gan you gear be? Shpargkbaw!, but a little muffled. A bit like one ear was hearing one thing, and the other ear was hearing another thing...

I block my left ear, and I still can't hear. But when I feel my right ear... I can hear a little better. Still a little muffled, but good enough.

I wonder why jayfeather hasn't called anyone yet. Like leafpool or brightheart. They might be able to help. I smell mouse, and Alderblaze. I look up. He has a mouse in his jaws. He drops it in front of me, and says something like 'I got you something to eat'.

I say thank you, but I can't even understand myself. I sigh, and wait for something. I'm not sure what, because I can't hear, so I can't talk to anyone. I can't go training, and I can't even play. There's no cat to play with.

I hear jayfeather come in. He wets some moss, and starts to clean out my right ear. I can hear a lot better now, but I feel a little disoriented. He continuously cleans my ear, goes out, fetches new moss, cleans my ear again, and starts the cycle again. Soon enough I can hear well enough to understand everyone, but it is still a little muffled.

"Can you hear me now?" Jayfeather asks.

"Yes" I say. "Its still a little muffled though". I wonder what happened. I remember pulling something down with me... What unfortunate cat was that...

I try to get up, but it's too hard, and I immediately fall back down again. I hear jayfeather talking with another cat outside, and I wonder who it is. Jayfeather comes back in, and sits down in the nest next to me.

"What happened" I ask. I need to know.

Jayfeather starts explaining. He says that when I was knocked by the badger, it wasn't a cat I pulled down, it was a badger! Good. I didn't take the life of some innocent cat.

The badger fell into the elders den, nearly crushing sandstorm, but I lived because I fell on graystripe. Again. How many times can I squash an elder in one day?

He says that the badger wasn't dead though. The warriors and elders had to fight it, and they eventually drove it away. But that wasn't all I wanted to know.

"Were there any deaths" I whisper.

"Yes" jayfeather sighs. "Spiderleg died trying to lead the badgers away from camp. Cloudtail was killed by the female badger. So was briarlight. Snowbush and dewnose were killed my the male. Hollytuft was killed by the cubs, and..." Jayfeather hesitates. I sense that he doesn't want to tell me something. "Leafpool died saving you".

My immediate reaction is guilt. But why should I feel guilty. I didn't kill her. Then I feel sad. I realise that the reason why Jayfeather didn't call for help is because there is no cat to help him. Leafpool and briarlight are dead, and brightheart's heart won't be so bright. Her mate and sons have died. She must be devastated.

I want to help somehow, but I can't. I can see numerous cats around me, scratched all over, but I can't help. I will be in here long after the others have gone to their own dens. I see sorrelstripe, lionblaze, mousewhisker and cinderheart, with jayfeather jumping between each patient as they need treating.

 _Cinderheart?_ I think. _Where will she deliver her kits?_ They are due any day now, her belly is swollen as a balloon. With a great big gash. It is not even half healed and when she delivers her kits, it might come open from the effort. I am worried about her.

As if on cue, cinderheart starts screeching. Jayfeather definitely doesn't need this right now. Cinderheart is kitting.


	10. Chapter 8: sun, rain and clouds

**Ok, this is my first authors note. Hello! I am convinced I am doing it wrong... But, back to the more pressing matter... Ok, I am completely failing this. Sorry for the tiny chapter, I just can't think of what to put next! I mean, I can't just... Make them warriors! That would be a bit too much like starkits prophecy... And there is no way i'm going in that direction... Ok, i'm using too many ...s... And I am doing horrible at this authors note, and probably aught to get a mentor... Or just stop writing this...**

Cinderheart is screeching like her life is ending. I have heard that giving birth to a baby is gross, and I'm not going to stay around to find out if it's the same for kitting. I close my eyes, and try to go to sleep, but I can't. Cinderheart is screaming too loudly.

Still, I block my ears, and wait until the ordeal is over. Or at least until cinderheart stops screaming. It seems like ages till it stops. But eventually it does.

I open my eyes to see three beautiful little kits. One is a golden tabby like his father, and one is white. The other is like bluestar.

"There are 2 she-cats and the other one is a tom" jayfeather says. "The white one is the male". I look at the kits. They look so small and helpless.

"Cinderheart, I think the white one should be cloudkit" lionblaze says. I look at him. He does look a lot like cloudtail. I think it suits him beautifully.

"And maybe the golden tabby can be sunkit, and the blue one can be rainkit" cinderheart suggested.

"Yes" lionblaze sighs. "Welcome to the world my kits".

About half a moon later, I am the only cat left in the medicine cats den. I am very bored, and can walk now, but jayfeather won't let me go to training. I think it would make brightheart a little happier. I haven't seen her with a smile since the badger attack. Which isn't surprising, since half of her family died.

But I guess I might need to go easy on training though. That badger destroyed my right ear, and I can only hear through my left one now. It is very confusing. But I'll get used to it.

I go outside and get a rabbit. I hop along to the other apprentices, and share the rabbit. We share tongues, and I sit outside with them for a while.

"Leafpaw! Larkpaw!" Whitewing calls. Whitewing is leafpaws new mentor, and birchfall is larkpaws new mentor. I wish I could go out...


	11. Chapter 9: The gathering

I'm finally allowed to go out.

I follow brightheart, and we head towards the mossy clearing, for battle practice with leafpaw and honeypaw. Larkpaw is on border patrol.

We trot into the clearing, and I see honeypaw and leafpaw in a fight. Me and brightheart pull over to the other side of the clearing. I know that I might have to wait a bit until I can fight with them.

"First move we'll learn is the leap and hold" brightheart says. "What you do, is jump on your opponents back, and cling on, with claws unsheathed, and deal as much damage as you can before they either surrender, get you off, or do the drop and roll countermove" she explains, when ambermoon walks over.

"Practice on that log over there" Ambermoon says. "So you can hold on without ripping brighthearts back off first". I like ambermoons suggestion, and I leap over to the log, and jump on. But its lighter than I thought, and it starts to roll away.

"Whoa!" I say, and jump off. It stops rolling. Phew. I walk back to brightheart.

"Good job. That was similar to the drop and roll countermove. You avoided it well" brightheart praised. I felt pretty happy. "So, when a cat does the drop and roll countermove, jump off. Although we do need to work on where to attack when you're on the cats back without worrying about the countermove. So maybe try on that branch".

I see the branch brightheart is talking about. It is about the size of a cat.

I jump on, and it is much easier than the log. I grip on, and I wait for the next instruction.

"Which part do you scratch" brightheart asks.

"The back and the ears" I say, hoping this is right.

"Why" brightheart asks.

"Because the back is right under your paws, and the ears are delicate and will bleed the most" I say.

"Good" brightheart says.

We go back to camp a little after sunhigh. We have 3 rabbits from near the windclan border, and I caught my first bird. A magpie. I put my prey on the fresh kill pile, and walk over to where the other apprentices are. They are chattering excitedly.

"The gathering's tonight" honeypaw squeals. "And i'm going". Brightheart walks over to me.

"You are too, and so is Larkpaw" she says, and smiles. I'm excited. I've read all about gatherings. At fourtrees and the island. And the daylight gathering in the sight. But I've never been to a real one. I can't wait...

We are finally in riverclan territory. I can see the outline of the island, and many cats are there. We are the last to arrive. I am excited, and can't wait to see the island. I literally bounce the whole way there.

When we get to the tree, it is very slippery, a little like when you make felt. Well, not that slippery, but I dig my claws in tight. When I get to the island, it is amazing. Its full of cats of all shapes and sizes, black cats, white cats, tabby cats, pink cats... Just joking.

I look around, and try and seek out some other apprentices. I see a small yellow she cat, and I guess she's an apprentice.

"Hello" I say to her.

"Hello, I'm sleekpaw" she says.

"I'm sparkpaw" I say. A Siamese cat appears. She is obviously an apprentice too. But I didn't think the clans ever had Siamese cats. This is getting confusing. I never saw a siamese cat in the allegiances.

"Hi, I'm amberpaw" she says. "I'm from riverclan".

"Hi, I'm sparkpaw. From thunderclan" I say.

"Ah, you must be Alderpaws sister" Amberpaw said.

"No, I actually joined thunderclan a moon or two ago" I said, hoping that Amberpaw wouldn't ask for details. Amberpaw's eyes reflected my confusion for a moment, then she shook her head.

"I was a... Loner too, until riverclan took me in" Amberpaw said. "They took me in a moon and a half ago". That was when I became a cat. Maybe Amberpaw came the same way I did!

"Er... Where were you before you were a loner" I ask. Amberpaw looks terrified.

"Um... Er..." She says, and shivers. I decide that I will try and bring it up.

"Like, were you a twoleg, and then did you suddenly wake up one morning in the warrior books" I ask, hoping that this is the case, and Amberpaw won't think i'm mad.

"Yes. And I know you came the same way or you wouldn't know what books are" Amberpaw hisses. I am glad. Finally there's someone I can talk to.

"Ok. So there's at least two of us" I say. "Make sure you make it to the next gathering. There might be others" I say.

"We meet beneath silverpelt commanded by the truce of the full moon" onestar calls. The gathering is starting! I rush to where brightheart is, and quickly sit down.

"Windclan has been going well. We have had a harsh leaf-bare but newleaf is upon us" Onestar reports. "We have made three new apprentices, brindlepaw, smokepaw, and eaglepaw. Sedgewhisker and emberfoot also have a new litter of kits, falconkit and hawkkit. That is all windclan has to report".

"Shadowclan has also had a hard leaf-bare" Rowanstar reports. "And we have lost two apprentices to a badger. Juniperpaw and strikepaw. But we have also made a few new warriors and apprentices. Needlewing, yarrowleaf, beestripe and petalpaw". Now riverclan reports.

"The fish have been swimming into our paws, and we have been well fed, but unfortunately, we have had an outbreak of greencough and lizardtail and curlfeather have died" mistystar sighs. "But foxshade and shadeleaf are now warriors, and nightpaw, shimmerpaw and amberpaw are now apprentices". Now it's bramblestars turn.

"Thunderclan has had a good leafbare, relatively free of sickness and hunger" Bramblestar starts. "But around half a moon ago, some badgers attacked. We lost many warriors, cloudtail, snowbush, dewnose, spiderleg, briarlight, hollytuft and leafpool. Fortunately, the badgers were lured off the cliff by one of our apprentices. We have made two new warriors and four new apprentices. Alderblaze, Sparkfire, leafpaw, larkpaw, honeypaw and sparkpaw".

The gathering is finished, and I look for Amberpaw, but riverclan is already leaving. Eaglepaw and petalpaw have obviously come here the same way me and Amberpaw did, because I don't remember them from the allegiances. But I hope they come to the gathering next time, so I can meet some others who came from the human world...


	12. Chapter 10: Shadows all around

**Hello! As you may have noticed, I keep changing mintypaw/pebblepaw/petalpaw's name. This is because I can't find a suitable name for the silly cat :slaps head:. She is inspired by my cat, gus, and eaglepaw is inspired by eddie, my other cat. I think I will keep it as petalpaw now (maybe). Oh, and thankyou flamespirit of the storm for your great reviews! Can I use you (flamespirit) as a character? I would love some reviews from the other 417 people who have read this book! Thanks!**

I put the last piece of moss on graystripes nest and sigh. Finally I'm finished. I walk out, and see the sun shining. Its sunhigh, so I take a bird from the fresh kill pile, and start eating. Its almost time for the border patrol. Brightheart showed me all the borders yesterday, and she wants me to go on patrol today to see if I remember where the markers are. We are going with Alderblaze, Birchfall and larkpaw.

"Sparkpaw! Time to go!" Brightheart calls. I go through the bramble tunnel, and jump ahead of the patrol. We walk to the border, near the lake. This is one of the best spots for hunting. I smell the border, but something has changed. There is a new scent marker. In thunderclan territory. Marking this beautiful place as shadowclan territory.

"They've moved the scent markers!" I tell brightheart.

"Go get backup" birchfall hisses at Larkpaw. Larkpaw runs towards camp. I see a shadow, of a cat, tensing to jump...

"Watch out! They're in the trees!" I screech, and just in time too. shadowclan cats jump down, and are ready to fight. There are too many of them. I count. 13 cats to 4. Not the greatest odds. An apprentice falls in front of me. She looks like a Russian blue with light green eyes and a siamese build. This must be petalpaw.

She is shaken, so I jump on top of her and try to scratch her as much as I can before she regains focus. This isn't long, just a few seconds, but she gets a nasty gash down her side.

Petalpaw leaps at my face, and aims at my ear. My ear! I totally forgot about it! I still can't hear from it though... Petalpaw reopens the wound, and it hurts really badly. But I jump on her back, and rip her ear, and when she tries the drop and roll, I jump and land on her belly. I scratch her belly like theres no tomorrow.

I hear a wail. Brightheart! She is surrounded by five shadowclan cats. I go and jump on ones back. He drops and rolls, and I do the same move I used on petalpaw. Or the same countercountermove. I scratch his back as hard as I can, when the reinforcements come. Larkpaw with sparkfire, brackenfur, squirrelflight, Ivypool, dovewing, rosepetal, blossomfall, fernsong, sorrelstripe and stormcloud. Thats all? Wheres the other half of the clan?

I run to attack a shadowclan apprentice when I am caught by my scruff... By a shadowclan warrior! He starts to scratch my back, and I feel helpless.

"Pick on someone your own size!" Brightheart yells, and leaps on the warrior. He drops me, and I am free to fight someone else.

I see sleekpaw from the gathering charging at me. I leap behind her, and grab her tail. I drag her around, and She goes limp. But that just makes it easier to drag her around. Then I suddenly jump on her back and start ripping it apart.

I am pulled off by a tabby tom.

"Get off my apprentice!" He hisses, and throws me against a tree. I climb it, and survey the battle. Thunderclan is losing. I jump on tigerheart, knocking the breath out of him. I scratch him real hard. He easily throws me off. I see petalpaw in the midst of the battle, biting anyone who goes past. I leap over a shadowclan cat, giving him a quick scratch, and land on petalpaw scratching like my life depends on it.

She gives me a bite on my leg, and I bite her ear, and pull, numerous times. Eventually there is a big tear in her ear. She lets go of my leg, and runs to help tigerheart with beating brightheart up.

I go and help brightheart, but we are losing badly. We outnumber them, but only by one cat, and four of us have already been beaten up. It is inevitable. We are going to lose this part of the territory.

"Retreat!" Squirrelflight calls, and we run into the forest, towards camp. We run and we run. When we get back back to camp, we see other warriors, also with battle scars, looking triumphant. I don't know why.

"Squirrelflight!" Bramblestar calls. "We were triumphant at the windclan border". I wonder what he means.

"We lost" Squirrelflight sighs, and flops down next to Bramblestar. I hear them start to talk, but I go and sit down next to honeypaw and leafpaw, who are sharing a rabbit.

"Hello" I say, and sit down. "Whats this talk about the windclan border?"

"Oh, right. Remember the gathering a quarter moon ago?" Honeypaw says.

"Yes" I say.

"Well, after windclan and shadowclan heard of our weakness, they both decided to attack. At the same time. So half of our warriors could go to each place. We won against windclan" honeypaw says. I take a bite of the rabbit.

"You should really go see jayfeather" leafpaw says. I agree. I walk to the medicine cats den. I see a long line of cat waiting to go in. I think of all the warriors books, where cats have their first battles. They are always won. It is unfair, but realistic. I wish I was on the windclan border, where they finished the battle in a haze of glory. But it is unrealistic. The books are always favouring thunderclan, when in real life, they would have no advantage. I remember a saying grumpy george always told us, when we complained at the high prices of the toys he sold. Life isn't fair. Life isn't fair...


	13. Chapter 11: Rabbits

**Hello! Sorry for not updating recently, I haven't been alowed to write so much :( but enjoy the next chapter!**

I collapse in my nest. I am exhausted. I have been changing all the bedding in every den all morning. Well, all the apprentices were. I had to clean out the apprentices den and the warriors den. At least I had honeypaw to talk to.

The nest is soft, and I bury into it. I hear a cat coming, and I smell fresh kill. Alderblaze, with a fresh rabbit.

"Hey, do you want to come outside and eat with me?" He asks, and I follow him outside. Brightheart is still limping, and I don't suspect i'll be going out any time soon. I've been changing bedding for half a moon!

"So where did you get that rabbit?" I ask, and take a bite.

"By the windclan border, just near the lake" Alderblaze says. "Why?"

"I was just thinking we've been catching a lot of rabbits lately" I say. I look at the fresh kill pile. Almost half of it is rabbits. We finish off the rabbit, and get up.

"Want to go hunting?" Alderblaze asks. "I know you haven't been out in a while".

"Yeah" I say. "But what about brightheart? She can't go out!".

"I'll ask Bramblestar about it" Alderblaze says. "I'm sure he'll be fine with it". He walks into bramblestars den, and I hear murmuring inside. Alderblaze steps out.

"He's fine with it. You deserve to go hunting" Alderblaze says, and we head to the bramble tunnel. We walk to the windclan border, the place where all the rabbits are. I want to investigate, so I suggest that we hide in the trees. I want to know why there are so many rabbits!

We climb through the trees, until we get to the rabbit clearing. I've started calling it that. I through a branch down, and the rabbits run away.

I hear a crack. I see a flash of black fur. I quickly turn to windclan territory. There are two black cats, one grey cat, and one brown-grey egyptian mau looking cat walking around. They all look skinny. Then another black cat runs up, and they glance at the border, and run for camp.

After a while, the rabbits come back, and they start eating some dandelions. There are lots of dandelions in this clearing. They might be attracting the rabbits! There is a rabbit right below me. I jump out of the tree and I bite. A clean kill.

We come back to camp with five rabbits, an impressive haul for two cats. We dump them on the fresh kill pile, and sit down with an older rabbit from a previous patrol. I eat it gratefully, and I pad into the apprentices den. I sit down in my nest, and think.

Why was that black cat looking to the border? Why did they run away? Wait! Of course! Windclans main prey is rabbits! With all these rabbits in our territory, windclan will be hungry. That would explain why they're so skinny! But why were they running?

Something clicks in my head. I've got the answer. Lack of rabbits in windclan territory? Abundance of rabbits in ours?

Windclan is stealing our prey.


	14. Chapter 12: aggression

**Yes, I know i'm writing short chapters, but I really have to make sparkpaw a warrior as soon as I can, because I need to bring the tragedy in. And that usually includes a lover dying. And she can't exactly have a lover, because she's an apprentice. But, I have set one up... See if you can find out who it is! :P bye!**

I am walking to the gathering. As I promised amberpaw, I made sure I made it. I see windclan walking across the tree bridge. As we walk across, I see amberpaw beckoning me to a bush. I head under it and see two other apprentices.

"Hi, I'm eaglepaw" one says. I realize that she is the weird tabby I saw the other day. I thought eaglepaw was a boy, but I guess I was wrong.

"Hello" says the other one, who I see is petalpaw. She still has a torn ear.

"Well, we're all together" Amberpaw says. "What should we do? We all came here the same way"

"Just have fun being in clans while we have the chance" eaglepaw says. "Fit in. Find a mate. Have kits"

"Try to become leader" petalpaw says.

"Yeah" I say. "Being in the clans is fun. We should just make the most of it while we can"

"Its probably just a dream" Amberpaw says. "But we should refrain from doing anything stupid, because if we aren't in a dream, we might be in serious trouble".

"Well, I think from now on, we only communicate if its really important" petalpaw says. "And at gatherings, we can chat about our previous lives".

"Why are you called eaglepaw?" Amberpaw asks eaglepaw.

"Well, its a long story" eaglepaw sighs. "One day, the patrols had bought back lots of mice from our part of the woodland. The birds of prey attacked for all the food. Then Sedgewhisker started kitting. I saved falconkit from being attacked by an eagle. So falconkit, hawkkit, and I were named after the birds that attacked us".

Another cat walks in. Its sleekpaw, from the last gathering.

"Come on petalpaw, the gathering's starting!" She calls, and runs off. I walk to the clearing, and sit down next to leafpaw. Onestar is ready to start.

"The start of newleaf has bought more rabbits to the moor" Onestar calls. "But many are attracted to an area of thunderclan territory near the lake. But soon enough, the rabbits will eat the place bare, and will return to the moor".

"He's threatening us" leafpaw hisses. "I've seen how skinny windclan is. They can't cope with it!". Leafpaw is right. Windclan is threatening us. They want that territory, with the rabbits included. But his hopes of the rabbits returning are not going to come true. The dandelions have seeded, and more are growing as we speak.

"There is plentiful prey in riverclan territory" mistystar announces. "Several pikes were found on our side of the lake, with families, eating the fish, but a patrol killed all of them, and we feasted well that day. Lakeheart also has some new kits, splashkit, ripplekit and dropkit".

"The prey has been running in shadowclan territory" rowanstar reports, and smiles. "Including the place we took from thunderclan. We have made a new warrior, sleekfeather".

"The prey is running in thunderclan territory" bramblestar says. "We were attacked on both sides of the territory at once, so we couldn't send our full troops to the shadowclan border, or the windclan one. But we have fully recovered, and have not been weakened by the badger attack".

"Bramblestar's being too aggressive" I say. Leafpaw nods her head. Bramblestar has been quite aggressive about the attacks. We walk back to thunderclan territory, when I think of something. If windclans so hungry, why did they sound so confident that the rabbits would return? Surely they would be worried! But then I remembered the prey stealing. They would steal prey for as long as it takes for them to return to the moor. Or for them to take that territory.


	15. Chapter 13: The lion in the stars

**Hello! hope you like the next chapter! This is probably the last chapter until sparkpaws warrior ceremony, so tell me some good warrior names for leafpaw and larkpaw! I've got some for sparkpaw and honeypaw. Mary sue haters, you will love this chapter. Mary sue lovers, steer clear of this chapter** ** _hint hint._** **Bye!**

I am hunting with alderblaze again. We are leaping through the trees as we head to the rabbit clearing. "Be quiet!" I hiss at alderblaze, and go along more silently. I saw a flash of fur. When we get there, I see windclan hunting. In our territory! This won't do. This won't do...

A few days later, the whole of thunderclan is crouched in the trees, ready for the next windclan prey stealing party. We see a patrol across the moor. Crowfeather, eaglepaw, larkwing, emberfoot and breezepelt. They are heading straight at us. They cross the border, and start hunting. Then they gather in the middle to examine their kills. 6 whole rabbits! That is too much...

We jump down, surrounding the windclan cats. We hiss, and close in. They have no right to those rabbits! No right at all!

"Why are you stealing prey" Bramblestar hisses.

"Because we are starving" crowfeather says. "With all these rabbits in your territory, theres none in ours!"

"And you thunderclan cats don't deserve this fresh kill!" Breezepelt yowls . That is it. I lash out at his ear.

"Shut your stinking mouth breezebum" I hiss.

"Oh is that how it is sparkkit" Breezepelt yowls, and leaps at me. I bite his ear, and pull. I see fighting cats all around me, and I try to tear breezepelt to bits, but he is too good. Probably still getting dark forest training.

"Loner!" Breezepelt yowls. He runs to fight millie. "Kittypet! Thats all thunderclan is now!" He shoots his paw at millies leg. She yowls in pain.

"Get back to camp millie!" Bramblestar yowls. I turn to breezepelt to find a lifeless body in his paws. He took advantage of the distraction. He killed lionblaze. I sit down. The battle is silent. No warrior should kill to win his battles. But Breezepelt did.

"Run away silly thunderclan" breezepelt snarls. "Wheres your invincible warrior now!". He has a grin on his face. He has always hated lionblaze.

"Warriors never kill to win their battles" onestar snarls. "Breezepelt, come. Thunderclan has won". I look at lionblaze, and tremble. Cinderheart will be devastated. So will jayfeather, and the kits. So am I...

That night, we sit vigil for lionblaze. His kits are crying, and so is cinderheart. Jayfeather is the most emotional i've ever seen him. Nearly the whole clan is sitting vigil for him. I hear rustling near the bramble tunnel. It's onestar with crowfeather.

Onestar walks to bramblestar's den. I hear chatting inside, and they reapear on the highledge. Crowfeather walks down to sit vigil for lionblaze, which is surprising, because usually cats from other clans don't sit vigil for a warrior from another clan.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath highledge for a clan meeting" bramblestar calls. We all either gather, or take a moment to look up from lionblazes body.

"I am truly sorry for the loss of your warrior" onestar says. "Breezepelt has been punished severely. We have changed his name to deadheart, and if he shows himself to be a loyal warrior he will earn back the name of Breezepelt. If he betrays us again, he will be exiled".

I am glad breeze-deadheart was punished. I am not glad about the punishment. But I am fine with it, and go back to sitting vigil for lionblaze.

Then I realize why he wasn't exiled immediately. He has kits. If he is exiled, he will never see them again. Then I realize that he is eaglepaws foster father. Kind of. Well, I'm glad he wasn't exiled, because smokepaw and brindlepaw would be devastated. Maybe eaglepaw would be as well.

But I can't believe lionblaze is dead. The invincible warrior, the clans saviour, the mary sue of all mary sues. Well, maybe dovewing is a bigger mary sue, but does it matter now? Cats are dying left right and centre, and theres nothing I can do about it...


	16. Chapter 14: thunder strikes

**Ok, so im sorry for not updating in a while, I've been really busy, and my mum hasn't been letting me on. I won't be updating in a while, because I've started a critisism of starkits prophecy, and I want to try and update warrior cats olympics. I'll probably just delete when the clans got ipads. Hope you like the chapter!**

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath highledge for a clan meeting" bramblestar yowls. We all gather, and wonder what this is about. I don't expect it's cinderpelts kits apprentice ceremony yet, and none of the apprentices have done their warrior assessment.

"Whats this about" graystripe grumbles. "It's too early". He gets grumpier every day.

"At the end of leafbare, shadowclan took a prey-rich part of our territory" bramblestar starts. "We are being severely threatened at the windclan border, and as leafbare is coming fast, we can't afford to lose the territory. So we are going to attack shadowclan today" he announces.

The clan gasps. No cat expected this. I start scratching the ground in anticipation.

We walk to the shadowclan border, and we wait for the dawn patrol. They come past, and mark the border. Bramblestar looks at sparkfire and alderblaze.

"Alderblaze, choose ten cats to hide in the trees with you. Jump down when I give the signal. Sparkfire, choose another ten cats to hide in the bushes. When I give the signal, jump out like alderblazes patrol. The rest, follow me and mark the old border" bramblestar says.

"I choose sparkpaw, brightheart, ivypool, dovewing, honeypaw, ambermoon, birchfall, larkpaw, whitewing and leafpaw" Alderblaze says. "The apprentices are good in the trees, especially sparkpaw". I feel a flash of pride, and giggle.

"I choose brackenfur, thornclaw, millie, berrynose, mousewhisker, rosepetal, blossomfall, bumblestripe, stormcloud and duskpaw" sparkfire decides.

"The rest will go with me, come on" bramblestar says. When they've marked the border, bramblestar explains why he has the groups. When a shadowclan patrol comes, they will think there is only bramblestars patrol. They will attack, but will send a messenger to camp to get a few more reinforcements. But they won't get many, because they only think there is bramblestars small patrol. When the reinforcements come, the rest of the cats appear, and overpower shadowclan. Thats the plan anyways.

Soon enough, a patrol comes, with tawnypelt, tigerheart, dawnpelt, petalpaw and rowanstar. They smell the scent markers and hiss. They leap at bramblestars patrol.

"Petalshade!" Rowanstar yowls. Oh, she's got her warrior name. Good on her! "Go to camp and bring back three of our best fighters!". Our plan is working! Petalshade runs into shadowclan territory.

Five minutes later, she comes back with crowfrost, stonetooth and wasptail. They fight bramblestars patrol, and he gives the signal. We jump down, and surround the shadowclan cats. We fight and fight, and I give petalshade a nasty gash.

"Retreat!" Rowanstar yowls, and the shadowclan cats flee. We have won back what is rightfully ours! We walk back to the camp exhausted, and I sit down next to Alderblaze with a magpie. We eat it in silence.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath highledge for a clan meeting" bramblestar yowls. I walk over to the highledge.

"Whats this for, we had a meeting this morning" graystripe grumbles.

"Four of our apprentices fought well today, and they have shown that they are ready to recieve their warrior names" bramblestar starts. My heart leaps. I am going to become a warrior! "I, bramblestar, leader of thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have worked hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. Honeypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do" honeypaw says. I wonder what her warrior name might be. Maybe honeyleaf, or honeycloud.

"Then by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. Honeypaw, from this moment, you will be known as honeypoppy. Starclan honours your warmth and wisdom, and we welcome you as a full warrior of thunderclan" bramblestar finishes. Honeypoppy. Thats a nice name. "Larkpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do" larkpaw says. I think I would name him larkwing.

"Then by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. Larkpaw, from this moment, you will be known as larksong. Starclan honours your forethought and honesty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of thunderclan" bramblestar says. Larksong. I would like that name. "Leafpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do" leafpaw says. I think leafstorm would be a good name for her, but unfortunately its already been used.

"Then by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. Leafpaw, from this moment, you will be known as leafwing. Starclan honours your skill and spirit, and we welcome you as a full warrior of thunderclan" bramblestar finishes. Now its my turn! I'm so excited! Sparkpaw, do you promise to upjold the warrior code, and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do" I say. My heart is beating like a drum. I hope my name is good!

"Then by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior name. Sparkpaw, from this moment, you will be known as sparkfur. Starclan honours your energy and intelligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of thunderclan" bramblestar finishes. Sparkfur. I think it sounds really nice.

"Honeypoppy! Larksong! Leafwing! Sparkfur! Honeypoppy! Larksong! Leafwing sparkfur!" The clan chants. I feel proud that I've made it this far. And hopefully I will make it even farther, in my life as sparkfur.


End file.
